New Delhi, Apr. 9 (Agencies): German carmaker Volkswagen on Saturday accused two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto of making misleading statements about the safety rating of VW’s premium hatchback Polo while talking about Bajaj’s quadricycle Qute.
On Friday, the Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP) had criticised Bajaj for citing its safety ratings to create an impression that the quadricycle Qute being promoted by Bajaj has a better ranking in crash tests than some popular compact cars in India, including VW’s Polo.
Bajaj Auto had said “...in a recent Euro NCAP report, the Bajaj Qute was accorded a 1 (one) star rating, superior to the 0 (zero) star rating of popular cars including the VW Polo, Ford Figo, Hyundai i10, Maruti Alto, and Tata Nano.”
Reacting to Bajaj Auto’s claim, Volkswagen India said: “The information issued by Bajaj Auto Ltd with reference to Volkswagen Polo NCAP rating is misleading, incorrect and without merit.”
Volkswagen said that contrary to the claim made by Bajaj Auto, Global NCAP has given a 4-star rating for its Polo car line in India.
Global NCAP, an independent charity focused on consumer-orientated vehicle safety initiatives, also said although it has given a one-star rating for quadricycles to Bajaj Qute, the vehicle does not perform well and there is a “likelihood of severe or fatal head and chest injuries”.
In a letter to Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj, Global NCAP Secretary General David Ward said: “It is also very disappointing to read that Bajaj was also reported to be making comparisons between Global NCAP's tests of Indian passenger cars suggesting that the Qute had performed better than cars with a zero-star result. To make such a comparison is misleading and wrong.”
Global NCAP’s Ward pointed out that the Euro NCAP quadricycle test uses a full frontal impact at 50 km/h whereas Global NCAP's passenger car tests use a 40 per cent overlap impact at 64 km/h.
“The latter is a much tougher test and should not be used as a relevant comparison,” he said.
Later on Bajaj Auto clarified that it had inferred on the basis of results that it has seen that while the Qute has achieved a '1 star' rating in its category of quadricycles, several popular small cars have “achieved a zero star rating in their category”.
Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, reacted sharply to Global NCAP statement.
“We would equally respectfully suggest that in the future Global NCAP reflect a little longer and exhibit greater maturity in drawing conclusions before venturing to cast unwarranted aspersion upon an organization that has a track record for integrity and performance as does Bajaj Auto,” Bajaj said.
